Went out recently to have a closer look at this GTO that's for sale here in Hong Kong.Sadly I won't be buying it. Wasn't as good as the pictures suggested. The seller had the car resprayed (was originally silver) only a couple of years ago, but it was already starting to bubble around the lower edges of the arches. The red decals were starting to fade. The suspension was crap and needed major sorting. The tyres were fubar as well. Yet, he wanted top $$ for it...!!

But still, she looks damned cool in pics, and seeing as it's a pretty rare JNC these days, I figured I'd share the love...

I recon she would have looked awesome sitting next to my white Trueno.Had she only been in better condition...

Yeah, the butch looks is really what got me on to the GTO's in the first place.I'm by no means an expert on the GTO, so I'm sure the usual Mitsu-pro's will fill you in with specs... However, it's not a twincam. I believe it uses the Astron engine, which is a SOHC - in the case of the GTO in 2.0 liter guise. In the GS-R version it's kitted out with double carbs and as a result delivers 125 HP (I think...??).Now not meaning to step on any hardcore Mitsubishi fans here!! But I must confess that I actually found the engine to be a little bit of a let down in the GTO. Don't get me wrong, it pulled hard enough and certainly didn't do anything wrong. But I found it perhaps lacked a little soul - at least compared to the 1600 twincam 2T-GEU that's in my Trueno. I'm sure the GTO is at least as fast, if not faster. But it lacked the character and the awesome rasp of the Toyota twincam. Again, don't get me wrong, had this GTO been in as good condition as the seller claimed, then I would have still happily added the beautiful Coupe to my garage, but I couldn't help but feel that a slightly more 'racey' (lacking a better word...) engine would have suited the flared arches and go-faster-stripes a little better...As for price, the seller wants HK $ 180.000, which equates to around AUS $ 26.000 for you.

The GTO GSR used the 4g52-GS Astron motor without (73-75) and with (75+) balanceshafts. the easiest way to tell which motor the car has is by the location of the distributor. For the balance shaft motors the dizzy is driven off the head while the non-balance shaft dizzy is driven of the crank. The earlier non-balance shaft motors will make more noise and power than the balance shaft motors in my experience even though the published power levels where the same. Both need modifications to get the best out of them as they are quite lazy engines, but with plenty of torque.

If you want something similar to your 2T-GEU engine then you want to look at the GTO MR, which had a 1600 twincam 4g32 with twin side-drafts putting out 125HP at 6800rpm and 14.5 kg-m at 5000rpm. The 4g52-GS put out 125HP at 6200rpm and 17.5kgm at 4200rpm.

Thx for the insight dwlee... I know about the MR, and yes that is obviously the one I dream about owning!!But you try finding one for sale!!And even if that happens, then you try paying for it...!! Ouch.

A while back I had a look at this 2000 GTO which is in Hong Kong too.It had the flares but wasn't born a GS-R.

I realize that it actually looks semi-decent on the pics, but sadly though, it was an absolute basketcase!!Okay, you could probably have gotten it roadworthy fairly easy, but there was literally not a single panel on it that didn't have rust issues to some extent - even the roof. Paint was lifting and cracking everywhere, brightwork was f***ed, etc etc...But what was even more dodgy, the chassis number stamped in the front inner wing didn't match the number on the VIN plate!! I wasn't about to get burned on this one, so left it well alone!!

But there's a third GTO here in Hong Kong. I've still never seen this car in the flesh, but it's an orange GTO. Think it's a GS, but not sure. It's meant to be the best of the three GTO's in the country! Maybe one day...

the white GTO here used to be silver until just a couple of years ago.So there is now no longer a silver GTO here in Hong Kong.

Breakdown of the GTO's residing in Hong Kong:1. The dark green basketcase of a GTO requiring a very full resto. From memory I think it was a '76.2. The white GTO GS-R above which used to be silver. Definitely a '76.3. The orange GTO that I have yet to see in the flesh, but which I'm told is near immacultae. I don't know the year on this one.

Hey dwlee, could you perhaps run through the different variants of the GTO for me and some of the most obvious differences between them??- There's of course the rare MR with a 1600 twincam.- But there were also early GTO's with a SOHC 1600 right??- Then there's the GTO 2000 GS and the GTO 2000 GS-R, but what exactly were the differences between these two??- And I've also seen some GTO's with a large X-II sticker down the side. What's the story on that one??- Were there others??

The difference between the GS and GSR depend on the year and the market. In general they had the same engine spec. Flares, wider wheels and tires, button seats and air dam are the obvious differences, however, not all GSR got flares or air dam and the late 75 GS got button seats.

Thx for the info dwlee.I'll try checking out that site properly between xmas and ny when I have the time to really dig in and get nerdy about it...

Dax, the white GTO was certainly in reasonable condition - or workable as you put it. Problem was that the asking price equated more to a mint GTO rather than one that still needed a fair amount of time and $$ thrown at it.

Well as you can see, even the two pics you have of the same silver GTO have different number plates.A change of owner does not necessarily mean a change of number plate, but in Hong Kong it is similar to the UK where people actually trade in number plates. So basically, say you're loaded and own a beautiful Toyota 2000 GT, how much would you not be willing to pay for a number plate with "GT 2000" on?? Or how about "RS 1973" if you own the most epic of 911's?? I could go on of course... Also, many Chinese are very superstitious and simply buy number plates with 'lucky' number combinations according to Chinese tradition. Therefore, any given car might very well change number plates several times during it's life - even if it stays with the same owner.

The MR didn't come from the factory with flares. Only the GSR came with flares and then only some of them. To tell if a car originally came with flares the rear wheel archers will be cut. For an example have a look near the bottom of this page http://retrorides.proboards.com/thread/61522?page=2

I couldn't agree more colorado! A original MR is right up there with the very best of them.I'd like to aim for a MR, but if a good GS-R appears at the right price, then I'll probably take the dive then. We'll see...